In the Java Hot Seat
|
|
Simple black shirt. |
|
I have a problem with Suharto's rule of Indonesia.
No, it isn't how he brutally invaded East Timor in the 1970s,
killing hundreds of thousands of people,
only to cynically name the national automobile the Timor twenty
years later. We don't care that that same project to build an Indonesian
car failed miserably, and cost millions of the state's resources.
Truth be told, that pet project and the businesses controlled by the
Suharto family are nothing less than what we would expect of the
heavy-handed dictator of the world's fourth most populous nation.
|
|
We don't like this non-descript sense of style portrayed in these two
photos.
The simple black shirt and slicked-back hair are more befitting a
professional basketball coach than the ruler of the world's largest
Islamic country. While NBA coaches may like to think they are in
control, Suharto actually is. If one of his supposed subordinates
ever tried to punch him in the face, or put a choke hold on him, the
infamous red berets would put their beat down faster than you could say
"Latrell who?".
Sure, the Asian economic crisis has hurt Indonesia, and
the International Monetary Fund is demanding the dismantling of some of
the family run monopolies, but that doesn't warrant abandoning fashion!
|
|
|
Waving Goodbye? |
|
Speaking of state-sponsored, family-operated monopolies, here is a
striking photo of Suharto's son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala. Tommy has
assembled a stranglehold on the country's clove harvest. Used primarily
in
the sweet clove cigarettes that are a favorite of
both the Indonesian working stiff and the world's Jet set, the profits
help dress Tommy in fine suits and get him around Jakarta in this
elegant Rolls Royce.
|
You The Man, Tommy! See you after the Revolution, Tommy!
Where do you want your Exile, Tommy?
|
Perhaps Tommy could teach his father a thing or two about style. We know
Suharto has taught Tommy a thing or two about abuse of power. After the
IMF in February tied financial relief to measures including the removal
of the clove monopoly, the Indonesian government ostensibly complied.
Now the competetion claims that althought they are free to sell cloves
to manufacturers, the government is granting the seal that allows
the cigarettes to be sold only to those that purchase's Tommy's spice.
That's sassy!
And so is this.
This is more like it. Oversized portraits are the kind of
self-aggrandizing megalomania that warrants
a place in The Dictator Fashion Spotlight. A man that rules
over the islands of Java and Sumatra should have the same kind of
cachet that those names have brought
Starbucks
and Sun Microsystems.
I doubt anyone will be
celebrating Suharto's birthday this year, however. The only rallies
in 1998 seem to be protests on college campuses across the nation.
Public sentiment is strongly against the man who has lorded over
Indonesia since deposing Sukarno in 1965. With rising fuel prices,
and economic hardship on the way from stringent IMF requirements,
things can only grow worse for the Suharto family. And unlike me,
the Indonesians have more to complain about than fashion.
Hold on to your hats.
[Previous Dictator]
[Home]
Last Updated: 12 May 1998
Rant Back!